Taking the emotion out of the equation and making it all about financial decisions is the best way to sell group risk insurance, according to specialist group insurance underwriter, Blue Group Underwriters & Managers (Blue-GUM).
The message to advisers from Blue-GUM CEO, Les Jones, is that to be successful in the group risk insurance field, advisers should adopt a very different approach to the strategies that succeed in the marketing of individual insurance solutions.
In a series of national adviser presentations, Mr Jones has outlined the nature of group risk insurance within today’s economic conditions, and suggested a number of strategies that will assist advisers generate new group risk insurance business as well as retain existing plans.
Mr Jones suggests that while any executive decision maker will empathise with the argument about protecting their employees should the worst happen, their decision as to whether they will actually implement a group insurance plan is based entirely on the financial benefit to the employer. In other words, Mr Jones and Blue-GUM advocate marketing group risk insurance around the benefits to the employer, rather than to the employee.
This approach stems from Mr Jones’ personal experiences as an adviser and industry consultant over many years, where he found that ‘traditional’ life insurance sales processes simply didn’t work in the group risk space. But after turning his approach towards employer, rather than employee benefits, he found that new business began to flow.
In his presentation, Mr Jones outlines key questions advisers can ask of their clients and prospective clients that will direct their thought processes towards adopting group risk insurance cover because it is a prudent and financially responsible action for an employer to take.
In particular, Mr Jones outlines the value of marketing Group Salary Continuance as a ‘must have’ for any employer. Set out below are key benefits of Group Salary Insurance, based on the benefits to the employer:
- Improves staff morale
- Secures key staff in the event of injury or illness
- Tax effective
- Reduces moral obligations
- Assists in attracting new staff
- Much more effective than TPD
- Secures retirement benefits
- Customised to employer’s business
Mr Jones also highlights ways that an employer can reduce the costs associated with maintaining a group risk insurance package for its staff, which can be of particular value at present, during a time when all employers are considering all expenditure extremely carefully:
- Take the business to tender
- Investigate possible claims experience discounts
- Conduct an audit of employee occupations in order to ensure all staff are correctly classified
- Consider appropriate benefit design to ensure appropriate levels of cover for all staff and management, taking into account age, position, salary etc…
Adviser seminars scheduled in Perth on 4th May and in Brisbane on 14th May will complete Blue-GUMs’ current national roadshow program.
Let us know what you think about the Blue-GUM approach to the selling of group risk insurance by placing your comment below…
